[Sermon Archive] - [Weekly Devotional Guide]

This Week's Sermon The Second Sunday of Easter 15 April 2007 "Let the Gifts Begin" John 20:19-31 LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

On the Great Day of Atonement in the Old Testament, God had ordained that the high priest offer sacrifices of the two lambs for the sins of the people, but before the high priest could do that, he had to bathe his body in water and put on the clean priestly vestments. Then he had to offer a bull as the sin offering for himself and for the priestly tribe, the tribe of Levi. Then he was to offer the sacrificial lamb for the sins of the people and pour its blood over the mercy seat. Next he placed the sins of the people on the head of the scapegoat, which was led out into the wilderness where it would be attacked by wild animals and die, thus carrying away the sins of the people.

Our Lord Jesus has fulfilled all this by his death and resurrection. He has made a cleansing for all sin by the sacrifice of himself on the cross. That the Father in heaven accepted this sacrifice as being an eternal atonement is proven by Jesus' resurrection from the dead. That we celebrated with great joy last Sunday, The Resurrection of Our Lord.

But it doesn't end there. On the evening of that first new day, the day of the new creation, Jesus appeared to his disciples behind locked doors because they were afraid. These eleven men who had promised never to desert Jesus in his time of need, did just that. They had committed the sin of denying Christ. How could they ever do the work Christ would give them to do?

While the Old Testament figures are fulfilled in Christ, the principle that God used there continues here. Jesus comes among them in a miraculous way and speaks to them. The first word he speaks is "Peace." He speaks it not once, but twice so that they would know that Jesus was not angry with them. It marks a new chapter in the history of our salvation. Jesus comes to distribute his gifts.

The first gift he distributes is his forgiveness. Just as the high priest on the Great Day of Atonement had to be cleansed before he could cleanse the people with the sacrificial lambs, so the Apostles needed to be cleansed before they could dispense cleansing to the world. It is our Lord's greatest and most important gift. It is the gift won through his innocent suffering and death on the cross. Without the shedding of his blood there would be no forgiveness for anyone, but with his victory over sin, death, and hell, there is now forgiveness for the world.

Forgiveness must be distributed! God simply did not put it out there somewhere for people to find. He certainly did not intend that anyone should have to earn it because that would contradict his entire substitutionary work. Forgiveness has been won! Now it must be distributed. Now the gifts which our Lord has must be dispensed, given out, put into the ears, hands, and mouths of his beloved.

But first things first. First the apostles are forgiven. The Forgiver forgives those who have sinned. He cleanses them for service. And then he breathes on them and says:

"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld." (John 20:22-23, ESV)

It's a very practical question to ask: How will Christ get his forgiveness to the world? The Psalmist had already spoken of this in Psalm 68, one of the enthronement Psalms, a Psalm that the Apostle Paul quotes in Ephesians when speaking of the Church:

"Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers." (Ephesians 4:8-11, ESV)

God always works mediately, that is, through means. It is exactly what we mean when we speak of the Word and the Sacraments as "the means of grace," the way that God deals with us when it comes to forgiveness, life, and salvation. He does not give his gifts in any other way. God is a God of order.

In this case, our Lord Jesus Christ breathes on his disciples and speaks to them. When he breathes on them he is giving them his breath. Thus, the words of absolution that they will speak will not be their own but Christ's own words. He himself forgives sinners through the words spoken by his ordained servants. Those words are the words of Christ himself.

Our Lutheran Confessions understand this arrangement quite well. The Augsburg Confession links the article on Justification [how we are forgiven] with the Office of the Ministry. After spelling out that

we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith, 2 when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. 3 For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness. . . ¹

1 To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. 2 Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where he pleases, in those who hear the Gospel.²

Here is the summary of what Jesus was doing on the evening of his resurrection. He was ordaining the apostles for their work of distributing his forgiveness to the world. He ordained them to speak his word of peace to the world, a peace that has come about through his life and his death on the cross.

Our catechumens learn it more simply from the Small Catechism:

What do you believe according to these words?* [These words of John 20.22-23]
I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by his divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us himself.

What a wonderful arrangement our Lord has given his Church! He deals personally with you through the mouth of your pastors to put the word of absolution into your ears, to bring this word of forgiveness right to you. This most precious gift our Lord has to give to the world he does not leave to chance. He embeds it in the mouths of his ordained servants. It is the most important work of the Ministry, to forgive, to distribute the fruits of Christ's work of atonement.

Of course, there is that other side to this. Sadly, forgiveness is sometimes withheld from those who are not penitent, those who turn their back on Christ and his redemption because of their refusal to repent. Sadly, their sins are not loosed but are bound to them until such time as they repent.

Indeed, all of our Lord's gifts are delivered in this way, by these means. When the Word of the Gospel is preached, when Holy Baptism is administered, when Holy Absolution is spoken in the penitent's ear, when the true body and blood of Christ are distributed in the Sacrament of the Altar, forgiveness is delivered. So rich is our Lord's forgiveness! The gifts are given and He wants to be sure that you receive the gifts, and so he has created this delivery system called the Office of the Holy Ministry.

Perhaps you have wondered why I commune myself before any of you commune. It's not at all a matter of my desire to go first, but there is the God-given precedent established at the Great Day of Atonement and reaffirmed on the evening of Christ's resurrection. Those who distribute the gifts of Christ must first of all be cleansed themselves. The priests-the Apostles-pastors. All according to God's order of things.

On the first day of the week Christ rose from the dead. On the first day of the week the risen Christ established the Office of the Holy Ministry. On the first day of the week the risen Christ began giving his gifts to his beloved Bride, the Church. It is a wonderful arrangement. It is a cause for rejoicing because you see and experience your Lord's ongoing Ministry to you. Here the risen Christ is present again for you in the Gospel and especially in the Sacrament of the Altar to forgive you all your sins.

"Peace be with you!" The Father has sent the Son and the Son has sent his servants to forgive you your sins. "Let the Gifts Begin!"

¹Tappert, T. G. (2000, c1959). The book of concord : The confessions of the evangelical Lutheran church (30). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
²Tappert, T. G. (2000, c1959). The book of concord : The confessions of the evangelical Lutheran church (31). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.